Europeans must take 'firm stance' with Iran in nuclear talks: Israel

European foreign ministers must take a "firm stance" in talks Friday with their Iranian counterpart on Tehran's nuclear program, Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is meeting his French, German, British and EU counterparts in the Swiss city, with the Europeans aiming for a diplomatic solution to the Iran-Israel war.

Israel, claiming Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, launched air strikes against its arch-enemy a week ago, triggering deadly exchanges.

French President Emmanuel  Macron said earlier the European powers hoped to offer a "diplomatic solution" to end the Iran-Israel war at the Geneva talks.

"It's clear Israel is not part of that meeting," the country's ambassador Daniel Meron told journalists outside the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"We expect the European foreign ministers to take a firm stance vis-a-vis Iran," he said.

Meron accused Iran of seeking to destabilize the region and beyond with its "terrorist proxies" and warned that the country's nuclear program was an "imminent existential threat to Israel."

On the ground, Israel's military said it struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a center for the "research and development of Iran's nuclear weapons project."

Meron was speaking shortly before Araghchi was due to address Human Rights Council, which Israel no longer participates in.